TATTON MP George Osborne, who is right behind the campaign, wants readers to write to him at The House of Commons.

He said this week: "It is great news that 20,000 people have signed the petition to save vital services at our local hospital in Macclesfield. It is even better news that 2,000 of those signatures came from Wilmslow alone. I want to thank everyone who has joined our campaign and I want to urge anyone who has not yet signed the petition to do so. You can get copies of the form from this newspaper and I am also arranging for leaflets with the petition to be sent to as many households in the Wilmslow area as possible. I want your voice to be heard loud and clear. And I want the message to the government and to health officials to be simple: hands off our local hospital!

"Let's remember what is at stake. The government is considering removing full maternity services from Macclesfield District Hospital. This could mean that mothers facing difficult pregnancies will have to be rushed to a hospital in Manchester. If the consultant-led maternity services go, then so too might neo-natal care.

"This could mean parents of very young children who are ill having to travel longer distances, adding to the stress. And then there is the threat to Accident and Emergency services. It is now fairly likely that the A & E ward at Macclesfield will be closed.

"That could potentially affect every single person living in the Wilmslow area. Who knows when you are going to need Accident and Emergency services? By definition, the moment is going to be unexpected. It may well be pretty frightening. Extra minutes in the journey time to hospital could make things much worse, even fatal.

"An area the size of East Cheshire, with more than 100,000 people living here, at very least deserves a nearby, fully-equipped Accident and Emergency ward.

"It is very sad that we are even having to talk about saving existing hospital services. With all the billions of pounds of taxpayers' money going into the NHS in recent years, you would have thought that the issue would be: what new hospital services are we going to open, not what existing hospital services are going to be closed. "It is yet further evidence that we are not getting value for money from the NHS and that too much our taxes are spent on bureaucracy and management costs. We need to have some answers about where the money is going?

That debate, however, is about the future. The immediate challenge is to save our hospital services.

Your letters, signatures and voicesneed to be heard. So, please, don't think that these plans to close local hospital services only affect other people. They could affect you and your family. We all depend on the A&E services.

"We all know expecting mothers and parents of young children. So don't wait for other people to campaign, to sign the petition or to write to the local health officials. Write yourself. Sign the petition. Get involved. Make yourself heard!